Busy, busy, busy! I am super-busy right now, between Christmas festivities and putting the final touches on A Circus of Brass and Bone (coming soon!) and wrapping up whatever all else needs to be wrapped up by the end of the year. Pretty much everyone I know would say that they're busy too. There's an epidemic of busyness and it's spread by the sound of sleigh bells. But honestly, is there ever a time of year when you wouldn't say that you're busy? If so, bless your heart. If not, well, remember to take a step back occasionally and assess where you want to go and whether the things that you're busy with will help you to get there. I recently attended a workshop dealing with career goals for creative individuals, and the very first step was to visualize what a perfect day means to you: what do you do, when do you do it, what are your surroundings, and are you around people or alone?

What is a perfect day for you? Are the things that you're busy with helping or taking away from that?

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Formatting and organizing, oh my! I'm really excited about getting A Circus of Brass and Bone released, but goodness there's a lot of finicky details to attend to!

You can watch a video of me performing an excerpt from it on YouTube. It's pretty entertaining, if I do say so myself! Dramatic reading is dramatic. (SFW, not spoilery, and no prior knowledge required for enjoyment.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfIoZf_FRas#t=74

We're looking especially for nearer-future fiction; think a bit more along the lines of sentient chat bots or climate-changed dystopias and less far-flung alien space operas. And we don't care what form it comes in: Classic-style SF short stories, social media posts from beyond the horizon, fictive data dumps, experimental graphic narratives, and so on.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account. But social media sites come and go, so the email newsletter is probably the most reliable method.

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Anticipation is a powerful thing. We try to inspire it in our readers. We want them to be excited to learn how everything turns out. We want them to look forward to the next installment in a series. We use anticipation to drag ourselves through the parts of writing that feel like a grind. We use it to get ourselves to edit a story so that we can send it to that one publication that we're sure it's perfect for. We hold on to anticipation when our story goes through the long publishing process.

In the next couple of months, I'm wrapping up a long-standing project. Next year, I get to start a !!new!! book-length project. I have a lot of different ideas that I could be working on, but in the end (well, as of right now) I went with what made me feel the most anticipation. I was talking over different ideas with a few friends, and one of them pointed out that I was speaking in a normal voice and using words like "should" to talk about Project 1, but when I talked about Project 2, I used words like "enjoy" and started talking faster and waving my hands about.

Go for what you anticipate enjoying!

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

I performed part of The Circus of Brass and Bone in a local author showcase. Video coming soon! Aside from that, I've gotten cracking on finishing the serialization. I'll be done with it soon, and print and ebook editions should be available for purchase by Christmas.

Vitality wants exciting fiction of all genres that features a queer protagonist.

Vitality is a literary magazine publishing exciting, entertaining fiction featuring queer protagonists. What we hear people asking for, most often, is more stories featuring queer people – and not just serious, often depressing “issue” work dealing with the hard stresses of real life, but fun stories that happen to be about queer characters, and portray queerness in a positive way.

In answer to this need, Vitality seeks to be an escape for the reader. A safe place full of wonder and awesome where the reader can see characters like themselves doing things like battling dragons, solving crimes, acting in a circus, or travelling the world. All genres and styles can be found in Vitality. The only limit is your imagination.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

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Getting writing done begins with . . . well, beginning! Often, there's a certain amount of resistance to overcome before productive writing can be done. Some call it writer's block, some call it fear of the blank page, some call it procrastination. Everybody has different tricks for overcoming the hump. It can be useful to collect these, because different ones work at different times. The procrastinating brain (mine, at least) is very good at finding ways around these tricks after a while. One of these tricks is to just pick an arbitrarily small amount of writing, something so small that there is no reason to not do it regardless of the circumstances, as the thing that must get done first.

Lately, I've set that amount as two sentences. This must be done before getting a cup of tea or finding my slippers (yes, it is autumn!) or answering a quick email or doing some other writing-related-but-not-writing task. It's amazing how much easier it is to get in the groove after that barrier is broken! Sometimes, the rituals around starting writing build up and build up until it is necessary to do an initial clean sweep to help figure out what contributes to the writing process and what is actually holding me back.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

I've done the readings for a couple of stories over at PodCastle and Pseudopod. If you'd like to hear me reading you a story, have a listen!

"Drowning in Sky"by Julia August is a story of magic and myth set in Ancient Greece, with a serious sting in the end. This story was originally published in Fantasy Magazine's Women Destroy Fantasy! special edition, edited by Cat Rambo. Listen to it here: http://podcastle.org/2014/10/03/podcastle-331-drowning-in-sky/

The grand finale of my post-apocalyptic steampunk serial, The Circus of Brass and Bone, is launching October 31st over at http://circusofbrassandbone.com/ . There will be awesome and terrifying things!

And if you're local to the Minneapolis area, on November 9th at 12 PM, you can catch me doing a reading from The Circus of Brass and Bone as part of the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers Group 2014 Local Author Showcase at Acadia Cafe.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1454413838172675

Oriental Excess Co. is looking for science fiction authors to help create the world of our new intellectual property, Tokyo Yakuza™, by writing 2,000-3,000 word short stories for publication first as e-books on Amazon Kindle and other devices, and later in print as part of braided anthologies involving multiple authors and recurring characters and themes. Authors on this project may select their own cover image from our catalog of original artworks, before writing their short stories, to serve as inspiration for the piece.

For acceptable submissions, we pay 6 cents per word in exchange for the rights to publish the story online and in print and related electronic endeavors. We offer, in addition, a 10% share of the e-book profits after the advance is recouped. We also ask for several other rights: translation, audio, and the right to include the story in Tokyo Yakuza-branded anthologies. All rights we acquire are exclusive, and royalties from sales of the anthology are paid to individual authors on a pro-rata basis.Tokyo Yakuza™ is our brand for an upcoming board game to be released in 2015 in hard copy and digital formats. The Tokyo Yakuza™ world is a near-future dystopia and alternate history in which the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime family starts a brutal gang war between the 5 clans in the year 2020, during the Tokyo Olympic Games. Lovers of hard-boiled crime, film noir, yakuza eiga, Japanese anime, and cyberpunk with surreal or light fantasy elements, based on Shinto and oriental mythology, will do well writing for this project.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

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Stretching yourself to try new things can be scary, but when you succeed (not if--when!), the results are gratifying. You master new skills. You gain confidence. It gives you another way of looking at things. You form new connections.

The way to start doing a new thing is pretty much the same no matter what that "new thing" is. Do some research online. Find organizations that do this thing. Participate in events and talk to people about this new thing.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

New things! (You might have guessed.) Just this week, I've recorded two stories for Escape Artist and hashed out details for a project with a cover artist. The stories that I read for PodCastle and Pseudopod will be airing in October. The cover will be used for the published serial edition of my steampunk novel about a circus traveling through the collapse of civilization, A Circus of Brass and Bone, which resumes this Halloween at http://www.circusofbrassandbone.com/ .

Also, Odyssey Magazine just published one of my short stories! "Reconnect" is about a student who is blocked from everything but educational use of the internet. Despite this, when he studies satellite imaging, he learns something amazing that just might fix all his problems.

Excerpt

After Tyler explained, people stopped giving him the cold shoulder. It didn't help. He didn't understand their jokes, because he hadn't seen the snaps they were talking about. They talked about things he hadn't gone to that weekend, because he didn't know they were going on. By the time Tyler got home, he felt about as tall as an inchworm.

Maybe he could--what? There was nothing he could do. He couldn't fix the internet. He couldn't even go online and skim through LOLcats or play Minecraft to feel better. With his friends always only a click away, he'd never felt lonely in quite this way before.

Might as well try to find another science fair project, Tyler thought. He brought up his school's website and clicked through to their "educational resources" page. If they thought it was educational, he should be allowed to go to it.

Nothing caught his eye until he saw, "Satellites."

Odyssey Magazine published this story in their September issue, which is all about satellites and drones and other interesting things related to seeing the earth from space. Odyssey Magazine is a science magazine for 10- to 16-year-olds. If you don't already have a subscription, you can find it in a library or school near you!

If you're acquainted with a science-inclined 10- to 16-year-old, tell them!

First of all, we at Urban Fantasy Magazine don’t believe that UF stories need to be in an “urban” setting, per se. We welcome rural fantasy, and especially stories set in unusual and under-represented locations—as long as they are here on Earth. This Earth. Stories can be set in any historical time period except medieval Europe. Let’s just leave that one for high fantasy, shall we?

All stories must contain a fantastical element. Magic, mysticism, paranormal creatures, monsters, ghosts, time travel . . . and so on and so on. For us, the key here is that the speculative elements have their roots in something non-rational, non-science. If your characters are turned invisible by some kind of device, you’ve got yourself a science fiction story. If they’re invisible because of a witch’s curse or something, send it along.

Your fantastical elements can exist alongside science fictional elements, and they can be slight—we welcome slipstream and magical realism. One thing they absolutely cannot be is “all a dream;” make sure the weird stuff that’s driving your story is really happening.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

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Beware humor. I'm not saying to avoid the funny in your writing! A few humorous moments usually improve a story, whether it's a lighthearted fantasy or a grimdark horror novel.

No, I'm advising you to watch out for those joking truisms that other people may try to apply to your life. For me, ever since I had small children, I've been hearing variations on, "Well, now you won't be able to write until your kids are in college!" Ahem. I was finishing short stories even before my infant daughter was sleeping through the night.

Do you have a (writerly) trait that lends itself to wisecracks? The joke may be funny, but it's not necessarily true--not unless you let it be.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Figuring out how and what to write during four long roadtrips, two family reunions, and a long week of solo parenting while my spouse was working in another state. I'm looking forward to re-establishing my routines. Routines are a writer's friend! (Unless, of course, they aren't. YMMV.)

Uncanny is seeking passionate SF/F fiction and poetry with gorgeous prose– intricate, experimental stories and poems with verve and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs from writers from every conceivable background. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

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(The markets list got updated 7/15, but this newsletter is going out a little late.)

Editor's Note

Many writers talk about refilling a well of creativity. This metaphor works because wells gradually refill themselves, but they may need some non-productive time to do so. I also like to think of a battery of creativity. Certain activities help recharge the battery, but you've got to figure out what "charger" works with your battery. Some work for you and not for most other people. Some work for other people but not for you. Some charge fast. Some charge slow. Some only charge the battery for your experimental unicorn-Cthulhu horror story (and if you're looking for a great example of that nth-sub-genre, see http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/09/equoid).

A combination of the well and the battery may be needed after finishing a project or hitting some other milestone. I tend to need a little downtime (the well), and I'm still figuring out what works best to charge my batteries these days. Unfortunately, figuring that out is a bit trial-and-error. Going new places, reading new non-fiction, looking at new art, taking a trial class for a new skill: these all seem like good things to try.

(Do not try to combine wells and charging batteries in real life. Bad things may result. In general, it is wise to avoid imitating mixed metaphors in real life.)

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Being sick with new illnesses! I do not recommend this as a way to charge the battery.

We’re looking for stories with strong writing and memorable characters. There must be a clear genre element, science fiction or fantasy, so no non-genre fiction, please. But while genre is key, we consider characters and story to be even more important. Humor is welcome, but the point of your story shouldn’t just be a punch line at the end.

While we hope readers of all ages will enjoy this magazine, we do primarily publish fiction for teens. It is always difficult to draw a definite line around what makes a story young adult, but here are some rough guidelines if you’re deciding whether your story is a good fit for our magazine – you can also read some of the fiction already posted on our site.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

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The last two weeks, I've twice been able to go to a local coffee shop and write for a couple of hours. Given that I have two small children, that's pretty great. And both times, I've gotten at least four times as much written as during my usual (naptime) sessions! I am certainly going to be trying to do this more often.

If there's a lesson here, it might be that it's worth it to try writing at different times, in different places. Our lives change. Sometimes, the way that's best for us to work does too.

Now that SFWA has raised the pay scale required to qualify as a pro market to $.06/word, several publications have raised their rates! Others have launched at $.06/word. I expect more to come, as this goes into effect in July.

and Asimov's Science Fiction has also raised its rates. The basics: SF, 1,000-20,000 words, pays $.08/word, no reprints.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. If you want to subscribe to this email newsletter, go here. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.Top

Goals are great. They really are. They're especially great at teaching you that time is passing, and that thing you thought you were being generous about "scheduling" to be finished in a week? Yeah, it's now a week past that thing's finish goal.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

In the mood for dark, blood-chilling stories, published for a cause that will warm your heart? Desolation: 21 Tales for Tails is a collection of dark speculative fiction whose stories all focus on themes of loneliness, isolation, and abandonment. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Last Day Dog Rescue Organization.

Our guiding vision is the discovery of the real through the unreal. We believe that science fiction is a subversive medium for social, political, economic and cultural commentary. We intend to stimulate critical thinking and creativity by speculating on the future, but based in current or historical contexts.

We seek character and relationship driven stories from the full gamut of subgenres of speculative fiction, as long as there is a scientific or technological element that reflects the existential conditions for life forms and consciousness (human or otherwise). We are unfortunately not accepting horror, pure fantasy, vampire or zombie themed stories unless they meet the above criteria.

We are seeking under-represented voices with regards to culture, sexual identity and religion, and this includes characters and settings. We have a policy of gender parity and we strongly encourage women writers of any nationality, race or culture to submit their work.

* We pay $0.25 per word for the first 5,000 words, $0.20 per word for the next 5,000 and $0.10 per word up to 18,000 words. We pay $0.11 per word for serialization rights for the entire series.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. If you want to subscribe to this email newsletter, go here. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.Top

Productivity is something I struggle with. I've always felt like I should be writing and editing more. Now that I have two small children at home, I feel even more pressure to get "enough" writing done in the small amount of time I have available. I wonder how I frittered away all that marvelous time I had B.C. (Before Children). I've figured out a few tricks that work for me to boost my productivity. Some of them I picked up from other writers, and some I figured out on my own. Part of being a writer is figuring out what routines, rituals, and tricks work to get you going. Part of being a human is realizing that your life changes often, and that when it does, you have to figure things out all over again.

Recently, I've learned that writing from the same place that I daydream is a great way to overcome the inertia I fight against when I start to write. It also seems to help me get into the zone faster. Instead of looking at the screen as I type, I stare into space at the same quadrant that I tend to look at when I daydream. I watch the scene unfolding as I write it, instead of focusing on the words I type.

We'll see how long this trick works without needing adjustments!

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

My essay, "After Our Bodies Fail," is now out in this month's issue of Apex Magazine. The April issue of Apex is about repair. About fixing the world, about how that goes right or goes wrong, about how pieces interconnect and fit together. Or don’t. About how the past can be repaired, or replaced, about the friability of a body, a plan, a history, or a life. Go look at the stunning cover art. Enjoy the excellent stories (particularly "Repairing the World," by John Chu, which is surreal and beautiful and heart-warming).

Go read my essay if you want an uplifting story about medical practices past and future, and how we rebuild our lives after an injury. Or, you know, if you just really want to know about the goat testicles story.

Also maybe of interest to fantasy fans--a local photographer is putting together an art book based on War for the Oaks (THE original urban fantasy novel, and a damn good read). He has taken pictures of readers (many of whom are also authors) with the book at the real-world Minneapolis locations of important scenes, and he's commissioned essays about War for the Oaks from a number of writers. His Kickstarter is here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiredtapir/the-reader-war-for-the-oaks

Fair disclosure: the photographer's a friend, and I am one of the models in the book (look for me perched on top of the MCAD pyramid).﻿

Dark Regions Press wants novellas, short story collections, novels, and anthologies in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

Manuscripts of 100% original fiction, that means never before published on any blog, website, ebook platform or any other form of publication. Horror, fantasy, science fiction or any cross genres between will be considered for the three new lines.

Original ideas will be the most strongly considered. You can submit a zombie novel, but please give it an inventive twist or a very creative story arc. Remember that this book will have a crowdfunding campaign associated with it, so if the idea behind the book is "zombies take over the world" there's a good chance it won't be accepted.

Real characters and creative vision are sought. If there's at least one character (preferably the protagonist) that we can grow attached to and the journey you take us on is a creative one, that will increase your publication chances significantly!

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

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When most Western writers hear the phrase, "story structure," their thoughts leap to the standard three act story that ends with the introduced conflict being resolved with a bang. I've been doing a little more thinking about alternate story structures lately, in part because of my own writing, and in part because of other things I've read lately.

Normally, I'm a solid three act plotter. But in my current project, I have the end of a thin, long arc and the end of an intense, short arc occurring very close together. I thought the climax of the story was the end of the long arc, but it just wasn't working. Now I've figured out that the end of the long arc works better as an anti-climactic postlude. Of course, this means I still need to find a satisfying, strong resolution. The short arc's original resolution was...a conversation. And while one anti-climax is fine, two in a row is probably pushing it. So I think I need to make the short arc the triumphant resolution. This means lots of replotting. Le sigh. Coincidentally, I've recently started reading the Phryne Fisher mystery novels (highly recommended if you're in the mood for fun historical mysteries), and Flying Too High does just that. It opens with a murder, but the climax is to a mystery that starts further in the book. And it works!

So--alternate story structures. Something to think about.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

I have been trying to fix the ending that wasn't an ending but should have been. Lots of wrestling with words, nothing new to report.

You don’t think about the places you pass every day. The side streets. The alleys. Under bridges. The shadows. All you’d have to do is take a step to the side. Then you’d know.

From editors of Dark Faith, Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, comes Streets of Shadows, a collection of stories at the intersection of urban fantasy and crime. These tales of the dark and magical side of the urban landscape will be published by Alliteration Ink in late summer 2014.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. If you want to subscribe to this email newsletter, go here. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.Top

Ah, the joys of filing taxes as a small business! You probably winced when you read that, as most people do when taxes are mentioned. Actually, this year was pretty easy for me, thanks to an up-to-date spreadsheet in which I'd already sorted my expenses by tax category: Advertising, including webpage hosting; Office Expenses, for paper and postage; Supplies, for books (including fiction) and equipment; Travel, and lodging for conventions; Food at events and workshops; Other - convention registration and miscellaneous membership fees; Other - movie tickets and DVDs; and the percentage of your internet you use for business.

Even if you're not planning on claiming your writing as a business this year, keeping track of your expenses (and your receipts!) is good practice.

However, one of the things I wish I'd known not to do earlier is to keep adding contracts and payment letters to the same folder over the years. It does get unwieldy eventually! Now I'm switching to putting the year's acceptances, payments, and paid contracts into a manila envelope and filing them away at the end of every year.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Deadlines! So many deadlines! Many of them are self-imposed, but still!

Cruentus Libri Press is going out of business, but their loss is your gain! Their anthology, From Their Cradle to Your Grave, will soon be made free on Amazon! This includes my reprinted short story, "The Perfect Costume." This horror anthology is all about tales of terrifying tots, toddlers through teenagers.

* The Six Things That Make Stories Go Viral Will Amaze and Maybe Infuriate You [writing business]: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-six-things-that-make-stories-go-viral-will-amaze-and-maybe-infuriate-you.html

Buzzy Mag is looking for original science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories up to 10,000 words. Thriller, suspense and paranormal tales that cross into traditional speculative fiction are welcome.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. If you want to subscribe to this email newsletter, go here. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.Top

A career as a writer is full of firsts. This week is the first time I accidentally finished plotting a story that was not, in fact, the story I began plotting. The character was no longer the same. The plot didn't match the thrust of the story idea I'd started with. The superlative story title I'd chosen did not accurately reflect the story at all.

So I set that story aside. I went back to the original story I was trying to plot. I made a point of considering where I'd come from as I tried to decide where I was going. That approach worked a little better, though I still need to figure out a few details. And now I'll have two stories plotted out and ready to go, even if one of them is more quiet and small in scope than the cup full of awesome I thought I was brewing! I could be cranky about accidentally derailing myself (I was a little cranky when I realized it), or I could be happy that I now have !bonus! story.

There are always going to be "firsts" in a writing career. Some of them are wonderful. Some of them will feel like they are unmitigated awfulness at first, but if you look hard enough, you can usually find another viewpoint. After all, that's what writers do, isn't it?

Start a Revolution anthology is looking for revolution-themed stories from a QUILTBAG (AKA GLBTQ) perspective:

From green revolutions to anarchist uprisings. From social compacts to social justice movements. Stories that push boundaries and identities. That invoke a rebellious voice. That cry out for tolerance, community, and change.

QUILTBAG stories are about diversity in identity. Sometimes that means focusing on finding oneself. But the movement is so much wider. Identity is communal. Identity is global. And this anthology looks to tell those larger stories. Stories about revolution, rebellion, and reshaping the world, all told from QUILTBAG perspectives.

Stories about quiet revolutions and very public ones. Personal revolutions and global movements.

Some revolutions succeed. Others fail. But in the end it’s the striving for change that matters.

Market List UpdatesTo see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Aswiebe's Market List* Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.* If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.* To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!* Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. * To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.* To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.* You can also get market list updates through social media by following my RSS feed, Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. If you want to subscribe to this email newsletter, go here. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.